1982, martial law is in force. Krzysztof works as a teacher. Since his wife Gosia left for a scholarship in Baltimore, he has been living alone. He misses her and often writes letters to her. He hopes that she will leave Poland and join him, but at the moment this is impossible. One night, he has a strange dream. In it, he is running through a mist-covered meadow full of purple flowers. Nearby, on a railway embankment, he hears a woman's delirious cries. In the darkness, the lights of a passing train slowly begin to grow brighter. Before he can save her, the dream ends. When Krzysztof has the same dream a month later, he wonders about its meaning. After receiving a letter from his wife saying that she intends to remarry, Krzysztof feels lost. While browsing through an atlas of reproductions of paintings, he comes across the works of a young painter. As he looks through them, he discovers that the paintings correspond to his visions. Krzysztof decides to find the artist.